Mammoth was an opportunity to test ourselves in altitude, but also to have some fun with some awesome trails. Matt, Israel and I drove up Thursday to meet Charlie, while Susan was arriving late that night.
When we arrived on Thursday, we met Charlie at the campsite. It was a really nice campground called Coldwater next to a stream and not far from Twin Lakes. We did a short ride from our campsite into the Mammoth Mountain park to show Israel and Matt around. We did a steep loose climb from Lake Mary Road called Lakes Trail, did some of Paper Route, then descended a fun trail called Juniper, then headed back to camp.
On Friday morning we decided to ride Lower Rock Creek. Most people ride this trail downhill, some ride up the adjacent road then descend it, but of course we had to climb up it, then head down. Charlie gave a really good description of the climb. Steep and loose sections along with some technical rock garden areas to get across in the first half, with the trail smoothing out for the second half. It was a tough climb, but it was a beautiful trail with varying terrain and surroundings. I recall there even being an Aspen grove we cut through. The downhill was awesome. Unfortunately Susan's hand was hurting so she took the road down while the rest of us had a great descent. There were a couple of pretty technical rock/boulder gardens. Charlie was the only one to clean the first one, but he skipped the next one and Israel, Matt and I cleaned that one. In any case, a great ride and highly recommended if one wants to venture outside the park for a day.
On Saturday, Charlie did his own thing early so he could ride with the family afterward. Susan also decided to ride a combo of road and mellower trails due to her hand. Israel, Matt and I set off to do a fairly big ride in the park. The plan was to try and ride to the top. We parked at the Village and started up Uptown, which was a very nice climb. I wasn't used to riding consecutive days though--let alone three days in a row--and my legs were making this very apparent. We heard from Charlie that the park officials told him not to climb all the way to the top due to too much traffic coming down from the Gondola. We continued up with the idea of finding an alternate route across. We caught Beach Cruiser and thought we could then catch Bearing Straits across the mountain, then catch some fun single diamond DH and climb some more blue trails. The problem was, we couldn't find the entrance to Bearing Straits. It looked pretty clear on the map, but after circling around for awhile and doing an extra fire road climb, we finally ended up back at the same place and realized Bearing Straits is a one-way trail that ended where we were looking for an entrance--hence, no sign. At this point we were a little frustrated and decided to head up Off the Top (where Charlie was told not to ride), but not climb the whole thing, just enough until we could cut across Gravy Train. Well, we climbed up to the junction of Gravy Train and saw a couple of fast looking guys in spandex who told us we really should just climb up Off the Top all the way up. They assured us there was ample visibility, so we could just pull over if people were descending. We all liked the idea of climbing to the top, so we went for it. By this time, my legs were feeling pretty fried, but fortunately my back seemed to be doing okay with the consecutive days, so I soldiered on. Israel was feeling good, so he pulled way ahead, and I also let Matt pass me and he started to gap me as well. About this time, I saw a family up ahead descending down the trail. Turned out, it was the Gilmores. I just think it's so cool Charlie can ride with his wife and kids at the bike park! I said hello for a brief moment, then continued up the climb. We were above the tree line and could see the huge switchbacks ahead of us. I had trouble pedaling anything that required above minimal power, but luckily the climb was pretty tame. I did walk a few concrete switchbacks. Soon enough (or not!) I reached the top and met up with Israel and Matt.
Time for some fun descending! The plan was to take Skid Marks (single diamond) to Bridge the Gap (blue) then down Follow Me (single diamond) all the way to Canyon Lodge. Somehow though we missed Follow Me and found ourselves on Bullet (double black!). Some of it was challenging in a fun way, but there were a few sections that just seemed impossible to us. When we had the chance, we cut across Big Ring, then finished the descent with Shotgun (single diamond). Overall, the descent was super fun. I brought along the GoPro and got some pretty cool footage. Here are the ride stats:
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